Showing posts with label toys. Show all posts
Showing posts with label toys. Show all posts

1.06.2009

Modified Stuffed Bunny

Now, before you all think I'm totally insane, I want you to know that a friend commissioned me to make this little guy. I like the results, but I in no way endorse hurting actual fuzzy bunnies. Or unfuzzy ones. Or any critters (or people) for that matter.

So, I started with a cute little beanie bunny my friend gave me.
He asked me to make it look like the bunny's head had been taken off, and it was all gory inside. I wanted to make it look somewhat anatomically correct, so there is a spinal column, esophagus, and trachea, along with muscles.
hThe toughest part was finding the stitching along the neck, since the material was so thick and fuzzy. I removed all the stitching, aside from that on the back part of the toy, so it had a sort of "flip-top" head.

I made a tight tube with burgundy upholstery fabric, and wrapped in off-white felt to make a spinal cord with marrow. Then, I made a brown felt trachea and a pink felt esophagus. I finished the latter two tubes with a whip stitch in red thread.

For the muscles, I stitched the three tubes together, and then I stitched red felt to the tubes. I gathered and folded the red felt into a circle around the tubes, to fit in the neck holes. I stitched the folds in place with red thread.
After making two of these muscles-and-tube pieces, I inserted them into the bunny, stitching them in place with white thread.

Sorry I don't have any procedural photos, but let me know if you have any questions.

I am thinking about selling some custom ones, but they are a little creepy to make, so maybe not.

Thanks for checking out my post.

12.03.2008

Japan Paper Museum

Yes! This is made completely out of paper! And yes, you can make one too!

So, I recently found out about the Paper Museum. As far as I can tell, it's designed for children, but they have so much cool stuff to print out and assemble, like this "Japanese Style Room," complete with rush mats (tatami), floor cushions (zabuton), and other assorted pieces.


All told, there are printable dollhouses, food, vehicles (and a town to put them in!), ornaments, gift boxes, animals, and awesome insects and dinosaur skeletons.Their website is entirely in Japanese, but you can muddle your way around easily enough with their cute, reasonably understandable picture menu. You can also try a version loosely translated into English by Google. The first page, however, is still all in Japanese.